The Consumer as the Empirical Measure of Trade Mark Law

Although consumer responses to signs and symbols lie at the heart of trade mark law, courts blow hot and cold on the relevance of empirical evidence – such as surveys and experiments – to establish how consumers respond to alleged infringing marks. This ambivalence is related to deeper rifts between trade mark doctrine and the science around consumer decision‐making. This article engages with an approach in ‘Law and Science’ literature: looking at how cognitive psychology and related disciplines conceptualise consumer decision‐making, and how counterintuitive lawyers’ approaches appear from this perspective. It demonstrates how, especially when proving confusion, decision‐makers in trade mark demand the impossible of empiricists and are simultaneously blind to the weaknesses of other sources of proof. A principled divergence, without seeking to collapse the gaps between legal and scientific approaches, but taking certain small steps, could reduce current problems of proof and contribute to better‐informed, more empirically grounded decisions.     

The Swiss: A Political Nation?

Abstract: Proponents of constitutional patriotism advocate the promotion of a political national identity. Whether a national identity founded on common political values is viable, however, remains a matter of dispute. The Swiss nation is one of the few empirical cases cited by those who argue that a political national identity can be a sufficient guarantor of institutional stability and social coherence; indeed, Switzerland is widely regarded as a prototype of the political nation. The aim of our analysis is to empirically test this claim. In doing so, we rely on classical typologies of national identity. We propose to use a more finely graded typology than the usual dichotomies, however – one which allows for combined types – and to focus on individual perceptions of national identity at the mass‐ and elite‐levels. The empirical analysis of whether the Swiss nation can correctly be classified as a political nation draws on data from mass and MP surveys. Our conclusion is that the Swiss imagine their nation in both political and cultural terms, and the essence of their cultural identity is Swiss linguistic pluralism and regional diversity.     

The Status of Forensic Anthropology in Europe and South Africa: Results of the 2016 FASE Questionnaire on Forensic Anthropology

One of the goals of the Forensic Anthropology Society of Europe (FASE) is to map the existing education and practice opportunities in the field of forensic anthropology in order to support the development of the discipline and to optimize the training courses provided by the Society. To address this goal, an online questionnaire was sent to European and South African practitioners of forensic anthropology and related disciplines in 2016. The results of the questionnaire showed that the status and roles of forensic anthropologists vary depending on the national legal systems, education, and employment status of the practitioners. Despite the fact that the expertise of forensic anthropologists has been increasingly requested in a variety of investigations and the spectrum of tasks has become broader, including identification of living persons, specialized education in forensic anthropology is still restricted to a few graduate and postgraduate programs in European countries and to annual FASE courses.     

How pedophilic men think about adult-child sex: effects of child gender and physical maturity

To date, very little research has tackled whether pedophilic men’s attitude towards adult–child sex depends on characteristics of the adult or the child involved in such acts. This study examines the effect of the child’s gender (male vs. female) and physical maturity (pre-pubescent vs. early pubescent) on the moral evaluation of apparently noncoercive adult–child sex in a 2?×?2 factorial online vignette experiment. One hundred eighty-three English-speaking pedophilic men rated their agreement with moral arguments on the Immoral Sex Scale, as well as whether they believed this behavior to be typical for a child. The results revealed considerable inter-individual differences, with about one third showing restrictive moral attitudes. Contrary to our expectations, gender and physical maturity neither affected the perceived morality of the sexual act, nor beliefs about the representativeness of the child’s behavior. However, when controlling for confounds, pedophilic men believed that boys were more likely to willingly engage in adult–child sex. Furthermore, participants with stronger liberal attitudes were found to be more likely to defend the sexual act, as were participants with a preferential interest in pre-pubescents. There was no link between attitudes towards adult–child sex and sexual offending, replicating the non-associations reported in previous community surveys.     

Le public suisse face à la science et aux institutions: des relations à explorer

The purpose of this research note is to examine if the attitude toward science of the Swiss citizens is related to their confidence in Swiss institutions, precisely in political institutions. Based on the results of one survey (Eurobarometer 2001), we show that the attitude toward science is moderately related to the confidence, that the number of significant relationship of each institution depend on the level of confidence of the institution, and that we distinguish two types of relation: linear and inverted U‐shaped.     

贯彻十六大精神,加强非公有制企业党的基层组织建设--昆明诺仕达企业(集团)基层党组织建设的调查

加强非公有制企业党的建设是贯彻党的十六大精神的具体体现 ,也是新时期基层党建工作的重中之重的任务。党的十五大以及云南省七次党代会以来 ,云南省在开展非公有制企业党建工作方面取得了一定的成效 ,但从总体上说还处于起步阶段。昆明诺仕达集团是云南省第一家成立党委的私营企业 ,它们在党建工作方面的成功经验和存在问题为非公有制企业党建工作的开展提供了有益的启示。     

关于在校大学生政治参与状况的调查分析

政治参与能力是现代公民的一项基本政治素质,也应是大学生群体的素质要求之一。对在校大学生政治参与调查结果表明,大学生政治参与呈现出总体良性发展,表现为:良性的政治认知、积极的参与态度、鲜明的参与主体性和独立性等。但局部也存在着“政治冷漠”现象、参与动机的功利化等不良倾向。     

The random presence of glass and paint on the clothing and footwear of members of the general population: A US baseline survey at various seasons

This study assists the interpretation of glass and paint evidence by filling an existing gap in the background occurrence that reflects the socioeconomic and demographic circumstances in the United States. The collection was performed in a college US city (Morgantown, West Virginia) to determine the effect of the type of clothing worn at different seasons on the presence of glass and paint. Tape lifts and sole scrapings (1038) were collected from 210 participants and up to six clothing and footwear areas per individual. Glass fragments were analyzed via polarized light microscopy (PLM), refractive index (RI), micro-X-Ray fluorescence (μXRF), and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), while paint specimens were examined by light microscopy and infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR). Higher occurrences of glass and paint were found in the winter season. The winter collection yielded 10 glass fragments and 68 paint particles, whereas the summer collection resulted in one glass fragment and 23 paint particles. The percentage of individuals with traces varied between seasons; 7% of individuals in the winter and 0.9% in the summer had glass, whereas 36% of individuals in the winter and 19% in the summer bore paint. Lastly, when considering the overall garment and footwear areas, glass was detected in 1.4% of the winter set, compared to 0.2% in the summer collection; paint was found in 9.2% of the winter collection, whereas only 4.2% was found in the summer set. There were no instances where both glass and paint were detected on the clothing and footwear of the same individual.     

大学生心理健康状况普查报告

采用大学生人格问卷(UPI)和症状自评量表(SCL-90)对陕西经济管理职业技术学院在校大学生进行心理健康状况测量。结果表明,大学生总体心理健康状况良好,但部分学生心理健康状况值得关注;大学生心理健康状况个体差异显著,影响其心理健康水平的因素多样,不同年级大学生心理健康状况差异显著,且面临的困扰也表现为不同内容;大学生心理问题在表现形式上有所侧重。     

Socioeconomic Inequalities and Attitudes toward Violence: A Test with New Survey Data in the Niger Delta

Although socioeconomic inequalities are assumed to increase the risk of conflict, the mechanisms behind how inequalities affect attitudes toward violence are poorly understood. The differences between individual (vertical) and group (horizontal) inequalities, and the role that perception of inequality plays, have not been investigated to any great extent due to limited data availability. This study aims at providing a better understanding of the effects of different kinds of inequality by testing new survey data collected in the Niger Delta. Using attitudes of acceptance of the use of violence as the dependent variable, the study compares the effects of horizontal and vertical inequalities and actual versus perceived inequalities. The effect of access to oil resources is also tested for horizontal inequalities (actual and perceived). The results show that both vertical and horizontal inequalities matter for the acceptance of violence. While relatively deprived individuals are more likely to support violence, among groups it is the relatively privileged. However, in oil regions, the more deprived groups are more likely to support violence. In general, perceived inequalities appear to be more important than actual inequalities.